Shomereth yavam [una mujer en espera de yibum] a quien le cayó la propiedad [de la casa de su padre] —Beth Shammai y Beth Hillel coinciden en que puede venderlo o regalarlo, y que (lo que sea que haga) se mantiene. Si ella murió, ¿qué deberían hacer con su kethubah [los cien o doscientos, y la adición, y la dote que ella le trajo y de la cual él asumió la responsabilidad] y la propiedad que entra y sale con su [nichsei melog (usufructo), que cuando ella entra con su esposo entra con ella y cuál, cuando ella sale, sale con ella]? Beth Shammai dice: Los herederos del esposo y los herederos del padre deben dividirlo [porque existe la posibilidad de que ella sea (considerada) casada (con el yavam), para que el yavam adquiera la mitad de su propiedad, un esposo heredando su esposa, posiblemente estando casada con él dándole la mitad.], y Beth Hillel dice: La propiedad [tzon barzel (mortmain)] permanece en su estado. [Y Beth Hillel no especificó si se revierte a los herederos de la mujer, siendo la propiedad suya, o a los herederos del esposo, que había asumido la responsabilidad de ello. En cuanto a la halajá, la dividen incluso según Beth Hillel.] Su kethubah está en el estado (es decir, la propiedad) de los herederos del esposo. La propiedad que entra y sale con ella está en el estado de los herederos del padre.
Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
שומרת יבם = she is waiting and expecting to undergo levirate marriage.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
Introduction In order to understand this mishnah, we must understand some background laws concerning a woman’s ownership of property, her dowry and her ketubah. When a man marries a woman he writes her a ketubah (a marriage document). In the ketubah is written the amount of money he will pay her upon divorce or his death. Additionally, some of the dowry that the woman brings into the marriage is written in the ketubah. Dowry can come in two forms. The first form is called “pluckable property” (nikhse melog). This is money that she brings from her father’s house that remain hers and the husband may not use. The husband has rights to the profit earned from this money during the marriage. He has no responsibility for the money. For instance, if she brings in a piece of land, the land is hers but the husband may use the fruits of the land. If the land should be taken by the Romans, he is not responsible to pay his wife the value of the land. Money that she receives as a gift or as an inheritance is part of this category. The second form is “property of iron sheep” (nikhse tzon barzel). This is written in the ketubah and hence the husband has responsibility for it, should the property be lost, stolen or destroyed. The husband may use the property. His sole responsibility is to return the value of the original property upon death or divorce. A wife may not sell either of these types of property without her husband’s permission. Neither may a husband sell the first type of dowry without his wife’s permission, since it is still hers. He may however sell “property of iron sheep”. Our mishnah discusses the status of the shomeret yavam, a widow who is waiting for her yavam to do yibbum or halitzah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
נפלו לה נכסים – from her father’s house.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
If a shomeret yavam came into possession of money: Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel agree that she may sell it or give it away, and that her act is legally valid. Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel agree that a shomereth yavam can sell new property that has come into her hands since the death of her first husband. She does not need the permission of the yavam, because he has not married her.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
מה יעשו בכתובתה – the [100] Maneh or the two-hundred and the supplement and the dowry that she brought in to him and he accepted responsibility for the surety (i.e., mortgaged property).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yevamot
If she dies, what shall be done with her ketubah and with property that comes in and goes out with her? Beth Shammai says: the heirs of her husband are to share it with the heirs of her father; Beth Hillel says: the property is to remain with those in whose possession it is, the ketubah is to remain in the possession of the heirs of the husband and the property which comes in and goes out with her remains in the possession of the heirs of her father. If she dies, there is a dispute between the two houses concerning her inheritance. Usually a husband inherits his wife, but in this case she only had a yavam who had not yet performed yibbum. He is not fully her husband. Beth Shammai holds that the heirs of her husband, meaning the yavam who inherits from his dead brother, splits the money with the heirs of her father. The heirs of the father inherit since an unmarried woman is inherited by her father. Beth Hillel does not split the money evenly. Rather, each part of the inheritance remains where it is presumed to be. Since the ketubah, meaning the money paid from the husband to the wife upon death or divorce, is still with the husband’s estate, the husband’s inheritors collect this money. Additionally, the “property of iron sheep” is in her husband’s possession since he has full ownership over it. Therefore, the husband’s owners collect this as well. [This is Albeck’s explanation. The talmud explains that “property of iron sheep” is split between the husband’s and father’s inheritors.] The “pluckable property” is in the wife’s possession, since the husband cannot sell it. Therefore the wife’s father’s inheritors inherit this property.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
ובנכסים היוצאין ונכנסין – the wife’s estate of which the husband has the fruition/usufruct without responsibility for loss or deterioration when she enters [into the marriage], they enter with her, and when she leaves from her husband, they go out with her.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
בש"א יחלוקו יורשי הבעל עם יורשי האב – for she was doubtfully married and the levir takes possession of one-half of her inheritance from doubt for the husband inherits his wife but this case where she is doubtfully married to him, he takes possession of one-half.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yevamot
נכסים בחזקתן – mort-main (i.e., the wife’s estate held by her husband, which, in case of her death or divorce, he must restore in specie, being responsible with all his landed property for loss or deterioration (see Tractate Yevamot, Chapter 7, Mishnah 1) in their presumptive legal status, but the School of Hillel did not explain whether the properties were in the possession of the inheritors of the woman or whether her properties were in the possession of the inheritors of the husband, for their surety is upon him, but as regards to law, they are divided, even according to the School of Hillel.
